US missiles kill al Qaeda suspects

A missile fired by an unmanned American aircraft over Yemen has killed six suspected al Qaeda terrorists on the first occasion the Predator drone has been used outside Afghanistan.

A senior United States Government official said Yemeni officials had identified one of the men killed on Sunday as Abu Ali al-Harithi, an al Qaeda leader and one of the terrorist network's top figures in Yemen.

Al-Harithi is one of the suspected planners of the October, 2000, attack on the USS Cole in which 17 sailors were killed while the ship was berthed in Aden and has been linked to the October 7 bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.

The attack by the unmanned aircraft marks a new stage in Washington's war on terror and a step up in US assistance for Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih's fight against the suspected terrorists who have taken refuge in his country.

Since Mr Salih's meeting with President George Bush at the White House in December military assistance to Yemen has grown to include weapons and training by special forces units.");document.write("

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CIA and Pentagon officials refused to discuss the operation, but other sources said the CIA had been operating armed Predators over Yemen for months.

While many details of Sunday's attack were not available, sources said US operators of the unmanned aircraft - who could be working from ground stations hundreds of kilometres away - were probably alerted to the presence of the al Qaeda utility vehicle and its passengers by intelligence information that may have included intercepted phone messages.

The Predator, which can operate from altitudes up to 25,000 feet, could have picked up the vehicle using radar or satellite signals and tracked it as it sped along a highway towards the city of Mareb.

The aircraft's two Hellfire missiles can be aimed and fired by the ground station operators and guided to the target.

Yemeni sources reported that the vehicle was destroyed and that the other passengers were burnt beyond recognition.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asked by reporters whether US forces might be used against al Qaeda in Yemen, replied: "We have some folks in that country that have been working with the government and helping them think through ways of doing things."

Speaking of al-Harithi, Mr Rumsfeld said: "It would be a very good thing if he were out of business."

A senior military officer said no US troops were involved in the attack but said he did not know whether the CIA had a hand in it.

In Afghanistan, the eight-metre Predator aircraft first gained notice after it was used in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Taliban leader Mohammad Omar. The missile destroyed the Taliban leader's vehicle but he was not in it.

Late last year a Predator Hellfire missile was used against three individuals in the Afghan mountains near Pakistan, one of whom was thought to be al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Later examination of the bodies showed that bin Laden was not among the dead.

The Pentagon last year claimed a nearly "100 per cent record of hits" in several dozen battlefield attacks by Predators in incursions in Afghanistan.

Since US-led coalition forces began driving al Qaeda and the Taliban out of Afghanistan, Yemen - bin Laden's ancestral home - has become an increasing focus of US activities. Intelligence analysts say that the inability of the government to control large areas of Yemen has provided the opportunity for terrorist groups to reorganise there.

In December attempts by the Yemeni army to force militant Islamic chieftains on the border with Saudi Arabia to turn over al Qaeda suspects ended in disaster, when Yemeni forces lost 13 soldiers in a series of battles.

Sunday's attack comes against the backdrop of increased US military and intelligence operations in the Horn of Africa, considered a politically unstable area by the US.

The Pentagon announced last week that it was increasing its forces in the region to about 1200 troops and establishing a taskforce headquarters in Djibouti to advance attacks on al Qaeda and training missions with African states.